Door for freight-cars.



PATENTED AUG. 16, 1904;.

E. T. HANSON. DOOR FOR FREIGHT CARS,

APPLICATION TILED MAR. 29, 1904.

' N0 MODEL.

ZHW IF} w aken;

No. 767,404. V PATENTED AUG. 16, 190.4,.

E. T .'11A1\Is0-N. DOORPOR FREIGHT was. APP-L IOATION FILED MAR. 29, 1904. I f N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

'I nventfor v Attorneys UNr'- ED STATES Patented August 16, 1904;.

PATENT UEErcE.

/ ELIAS 'r. HANSON, or STRUBLE, IOWA.

/' DOOR FOR FREIGHT-CARS.

SP ZECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 767,404, dated August 16, 1904.

i Application filed March 29, 1904. Serial No. 200,587. (No model.)

To (all. rich/0m it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELIAS T. HANSON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Struble, in the; county of Plymouth and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Door for Freight Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to doors for freightcars; and among other objects it is designed to facilitate the opening and closing of the door and to have the same swing outwardly upon a hinge or pivotal support. It is furthermore designed to maintain a snug fit of the door in its closed position and to insure a prompt and convenient opening of the door merely by pulling the same outwardly after the fastening means has been released.

.With these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being underst 30d that changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure l is an end elevation of a portion of a freight-car having the present form of door applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional View of the door in its closed position. Fig. 3 is a similar View with the door partly open. Fig. 4: is an enlarged detail side elevation showing the present form of door employed as a graindoor. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a similar view on the line 6 6 of Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a similar view on the line 7 7 of Fig. 4. v

Like cliaracters of reference designate corresponding parts in each and every figure of the drawings.

\Vhilethe present invention has been particularly designed for metallic frieght-cars, it is of course applicable to any common or preferred form of wooden car and has been shown in the drawings applied to the end of a car md also in the capacity of a grain-door.

Referring at first to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the door is made up of inner and outer members 1 and 2, respectively, each of which is formed of metal. The inner member 1 is jointed near its upper end by means of a transverse hinge 3, and the outer member is riveted, bolted, or otherwise rigidly secured to the comparatively short upper section 4; of the inner memher, and the lower end of the outer member terminates short of the lower end of the inner member for a purpose as will hereinafter appear.

The upper end of the inner door member is loosely supported upon a transverse rod 5, so as to swing outwardly, as upon a hinge, the ends of the rod being projected beyond the side edges of the'door and mounted in suitable bearings 6, carried by the side posts of the doorway of the car 7. The bearings or openings which receive the ends of the rod are of a size to permit vertical play of the rod, so that when the door is closed the upper end thereof may be received within a transverse groove or seat 8 in the top of the doorway, whereby a tight joint is secured at the top of the door.

In its closed position the lower end ofthe inner door member rests upon the door-sill back of the keeper 9 in the nature of a plate having its lower edge connected to the doorsill by a suitable hinge 10, whereby the keeper may be swung upwardly against the door, so as to close the joint at the bottom thereof.

The lower free end of the outer door memkeeper, so as to lock the same against the door in the closed position of the latter.

After the door has been closed it is locked by means of three bolts 15, which work endwise through pivotal guides 16 upon the outer face of the outer door member and have their inner ends pivotally connected to a lever 17, intermediately fulcrumed upon the outer door member, whereby the bolts may be conveniently operated to thrust the same into suitable keepers 18, carried by the side posts of the doorway, and also readily withdrawn therefrom. In the locked position of the door the lever 17 lies substantially parallel with the bolts and is provided with a hook 19 to engage one of the bolts, and thereby prevent accidental swinging of the lever, which would tend to withdraw the bolts from the keepers.

To unlock and open the door, the hook 19 of the actuating-lever is disengaged from one of the bolts and the lever is then swung downwardly, thereby withdrawing the bolts from their keepers. Prior to this operation, however, the latches 13 should be disengaged from their respective keepers 12 in order that the hinged keeper 9 may be swung clownwardly clear of the lower edge of the door. After the bolts have been released an outward pull is applied to the lever, so as to swing the door outwardly upon its hinged support 5, during which movement the inner and longer door member is moved vertically from behind the hinged portion of the keeper 9 until it clears the latter, when the door may be swung upwardly alongside the car and secured in an upstanding position in any suitable manner. It will now be understood that the inner door member is hinged to the outer member for the purpose of conveniently withdrawing the lower end of the inner member from the keeper 9, and the hinged bar 5 is mounted for vertical play in order that the upper end of the door may be withdrawn from the groove or seat 8 during the opening of the door.

In addition to the bottom keeper 9 each side of the door may be held by a similar keeper, consisting of a movable plate 20, hinged to a stationary plate 21, which is fixed to the adjacent inner edge of the doorway by suitable fastenings 22, so that when the door is closed the upright keeper members 20 may be folded inwardly against the door and held thereagainst by the bolts 15, which pass across the outer sides of the keeper-plates. The adjacent ends of the side keepers and the bottom keepers are mitered, as clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and t of the drawings, and the hooks 13 are located so as to engage adjacent keepers at the joint therebetween. Additional fastenings may be employed in the nature of turnbuttons 23,which, as shown in Fig. 1, may be fitted to the side of the car and capable of being turned across the respective side keepers,

so as to fasten the upper ends thereof, or, as shown in Fig. 4, these turn-buttons may be pivotally mounted upon the outer member of the door, so as to overlap the side keeper members when closed against the door.

For an understanding of" the application of the present form of door as a grain-door reference will be had to Figs. to 7, inclusive, wherein it will be noted that, as is usual with grain-doors, the door is compz. ratively short and closes the lower portion onl r of the doorway, the rod 5 at the top of the d or being extended at opposite ends beyond th\ sides of the doorway and provided with eyes l24, slidably embracing upright guide-rods m hereby the door may be slid upwardly and. the nce swung inwardly and secured to the roof \Yf the car when not in use; otherwise the structure of the door is precisely the same as that hereinbefore described.

Additionalfastenings for the hinged members of the side keepers may be employed in the nature of pivotal latches 26,which are pivoted within seats or recesses 27 in this inner faces of the doorway and capable ofE being swung outwardly, so as to lie across the side keepers when the door is closed. l/Vh en not in use, these latches are swung back into their respective seats or recesses, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4. The pivotal support of each of these latches is located between the inner and outer ends of the seat or recess, so that the bottom of the recess forms a rest to support the latch in a substantially horiz ontal position when thrown outwardly into posf'tion for engagement with the keeper.

The important advantage of the. present door when used as a grain-door resides in the fact that after theturnbuttons 23, the latches 26, the hooks 13, and the bolts 15 have been released the weight of the grain within the car is sufficient to automatically swing the door outwardly upon its hinged support 5 without requiring use of bars to pry the door open and damage the same.

Having thus described the construction and operation of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A car-door comprising inner and outer members which have a hinged connection near one end, a hinged keeper for engagement with the free end of the door, a keeper carried by the inner door, the outer door member and the hinged keeper having openings for the reception of the keeper on the inner door member, and a latch carried by the outer door member for engagement with the keeper on the inner member.

2. A car-door comprising inner and outer members having a hinged connection near one end of the door, a hinged keeper for engagement with the free ends of both door members, and means common to noth door members and the keeper to interlock all of the members in the closed position of tlLe door.

3. A car-door comprising an outer door member having a hinged support at on end, an inner door member hinged to the outer door member and projected beyond the free end of said outer member, a hinged keeper common to the free ends of both door members, and means to interlook both door .members and the keeper in the closed position of the door.

4. A car-door comprising an upper member having a hinged support, an inner door member hinged to the outer door member and projected beyond the free end thereof, a hinged keeper common to the free ends of both door members, the hinged support of the door capable of lateral play to Withdraw the free end of the inner door member from the keeper, and means to interlock both door members and the keeper in the closed position of the door.

5. The combination with a door-frame having a groove in one side thereof, of a door hinged at the grooved side of the frame and capable of movement into and out of the groove, an inner door member hinged to the outer door member and projected beyond the free end of the outer member, a keeper hinged to the door-frame and common to both door members, and means to interlock both the door members and the hinged keeper in the closed position of the door.

6. A car-door comprising an outer member having a hinged support, an inner member hinged to the outer member and projected beyond the free end thereof, a hinged keeper for the free ends of the doors, and a bolt carried by the outer door member and capable of beingprojected beyond the free end thereof and the keeper to lock the latter and the door.

7. The combination with a door-frame, of a door hinged thereto, a keeper hinged to the frame to overlap a free edge of the door, a stationary keeper upon the frame in rear of the hinged keeper, and a bolt carried by the door and capable of being projected beyond the free edge thereof across the hinged keeper and into engagement with the stationary keeper to lock the hinged keeper and the door.

8. The combination with a door-frame, of a door hinged thereto, a keeper hinged to the frame to overlap a free edge of the door, and means carried by the frame to lock the keeper against the door.

9. The combination with a door-frame, of a door hinged thereto, a keeper hinged to the frame and capable of overlapping the door in its closed position, means carried by the door and capable of being moved to overlap the keeper when the door is closed, and means carried by the frame to engage the keeper and lock the same against the door.

10. The combination with a door-frame, of a door hinged thereto, a keeper hinged to the frame and capable of overlapping the door in the closed position thereof, a bolt carried by the door intermediate of the ends of the keeper and capable-of being moved to overlap the same when the door is locked, and pivotal latches mounted upon the door-frame at opposite sides of the bolt and capable of being turned to overlap the keeper to lock the same.

11. The combination with a door-frame, ofa door hinged thereto, a keeper hinged to the frame and capable of overlapping the door when closed, and a pivotal latch mounted in a recess in the door-frame and capable of being swung out of the recess to overlap the keeper and lock the same, said latch being housed within the recess when the door is open.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ELIAS T. HANSON.

Vitnesses:

RALPH L. WILEY, J. O. ECKERSQN. 

